Page 49 of Explosive Vengeance

That Others May Live. The Pararescue motto.

Chloe swallowed, the unspoken meaning reverberating between them. She couldn’t afford to acknowledge her emotions right now, and he held the power to reveal every last one of them. She had to be strong. Hard as steel. Cold as ice. Fleur and the others were depending on her.

“Let’s go,” she said gruffly, and turned for the door.

He stayed on her like a shadow as they moved into position, hiding in an abandoned office within view of the docks. They split up, Chloe going inside while Heath moved around to the side to monitor the situation from there.

Alone, she was able to focus completely as she crouched beside a window and surreptitiously watched the ships through her binoculars.

“Package has arrived. Two o’clock,” Heath’s deep voice murmured in her earpiece.

La Libertéwas being pushed toward the dock by a tugboat. “Copy,” she answered. “You guys have a visual from your position?” she asked Megan and Ty.

“Negative. Moving to a better location now,” Megan responded.

Chloe continued watching the boat as it drew near. Through the bridge window she could see the captain and other officers. A few other crewmembers were moving around the main deck. “No sign of our broker or the cargo,” she told the others. Fleur should be arriving any moment now.

“Heads up,” Heath said a minute later. “Our flower delivery’s here.”

Chloe scanned the dock and stopped on the woman approaching the vessel. Fleur was wearing the same disguise as in the picture she’d sent to Amber to beef up her cover ID—a light gray pencil skirt suit and black pumps, the deep brown wig wound into a tidy bun at the back of her head. She looked every inch the professional her cover claimed her to be.

Chloe watched her friend closely as Fleur reached the vessel and waited for admittance. Her friend was doing fantastic so far, no trace of nervousness in her posture or on her face. “I’m moving closer,” she informed the others.

Quickly changing disguises once more, she made sure her weapon was out of sight before slipping out of the office and making her way to the dock. She was going to be as close as possible when this went down.

“She’s going aboard,” Heath said, and by the time Chloe rounded the corner to get a visual, Fleur was indeed aboard the ship. She hated that Fleur didn’t have comms with her and the others, but at least Chloe was close now.

No one looked twice at Chloe as she strode down the dock, keeping her eyes on her friend.

A man appeared on deck with Fleur. Middle Eastern in appearance, middle-aged. “That our broker?” she murmured.

“Affirm,” Megan replied.

Fleur and the man talked for a few moments. Then the man went to a hatch in the side of the vessel and she seemed to hesitate. She casually glanced around her, her gaze moving right past Chloe.

Then Fleur followed him out of view.

Chloe’s heart rate picked up, her pulse thudding dully in her ears.No. No, come back out.

This wasn’t the plan. They couldn’t see what was happening. Had no visual, no way of knowing what was going on.

“Has she gone to check the cargo?” Heath asked tightly.

“I don’t know,” she murmured back, fighting back the alarm growing in the pit of her stomach.

“We’ve got a situation,” Megan said.

Chloe stopped walking, dread making her guts clench at the tone her friend used. “Report.”

“Dubois and his bodyguards are headed for the ship in a speed boat. He’ll be there in under thirty seconds.”

A bolt of fear ripped through her.No.Dubois wasn’t supposed to be here.

Chloe took off running for the ship, praying she would reach her friend in time.

Chapter Sixteen

Unease tightened Fleur’s stomach as she followed the broker into a staircase and below deck to inspect the “cargo” she was supposedly buying for her boss. With each step she was more and more out of her depth.

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